1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric single or multipole protective switch having for each pole a case with a piece for coupling to a neighboring pole or to a juxtaposable supplementary apparatus. Such a coupling serves for transmitting from one pole to the other or from one pole to an adjacent apparatus, a mechanical signal for tripping and/or signalling should there be a defect or following a voluntary control action.
Such known multipole apparatus generally require, for providing coupling between the poles, one or more coupling pieces which must be fixed by engagement or insertion on or in transmission pieces belonging to the tripping mechanisms of the different poles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Thus, in the patent FR No. 1 596 145, a single pole or mutipole switch is proposed having in its single pole version a case and a lid and in its mutipole version a case, intermediate pieces disposed in number equal to the desired number of poles and a lid; each pole includes a lever which contributes to the coupling by means of a common through mounting pin, this pin coupling the different levers together, it is then necessary to provide pins of different lengths for coupling the levers during manufacture of switches having different numbers of poles.
There exist other couplable single pole or multipole protective switches, but these switches have the disadvantage of requiring either a high number of pieces for building up the boxes and the couplings of the single pole version and of the different multipole versions, or they occupy too great width in the case because of the projections of the coupling pieces.
The invention has more especially as object to simplify the design and mounting of a protective switching apparatus with couplable poles by using a minimum number of constituent parts adapted not only to a single pole version but to the different multipole versions.
Its aim is, while simplifying the construction of such a protective switching apparatus, to confer thereon a minimum thickness resulting in low space occupancy in width and allowing if required the construction of modular versions.